Dick Price

Dick Price is Editor of the LA Progressive. With his wife Sharon, he publishes several other print and online newsletters on political and social justice issues. He has worked in publishing as a writer, editor, and publisher for a quarter century. In earlier releases, he was a cab driver, bartender, construction worker, soldier, and farmhand, and for many years helped operate a nonprofit halfway house for homeless alcoholics and addicts. To contact him, please use the form on the Contact Us page.

Dick Price: At its annual garden party this past Sunday, the ACLU of Southern California’s Pasadena/Foothills Chapter recognized six individuals and groups that have provided long-term service to Pasadena and Northeast Los Angeles for their social justice and civil liberties work.

Dick Price: A lifelong Democrat, Williamson is running as an independent, underscoring her status as a fresh and disruptive force, while leveraging her fame as a best-selling author and lecturer, with a large following among people who aren’t typically drawn to politics.

Dick Price: Called “Boxing for Sheriff: Business As Usual Vs. New Ideas,” the latest in a series of debates among the seven candidates to replace departed Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca broke out in a rash of finger-pointing, hot glances, and shaking heads.

Dick Price: Six of seven candidates for the recently vacated Los Angeles County Sheriff’s seat struggled mightily this past Sunday afternoon to convince a respectful crowd of perhaps 150 local activists that there is more than a hair’s breadth of difference in their positions.

Dick Price: Organized by the 18-month-old nonprofit, Californians for Safety and Justice and cosponsored by LA City Councilman Joe Buscaino, the “Crime Victims for Safety and Justice” forum rang a litany of pain and loss and grief matched to calls for change, pleas for resources, and promises of progress.

Dick Price: Make no mistake, for Sara Kruzan—raised by a drug-addicted mother, gang raped and turned out as a prostitute at 13, sentenced to life without parole at 17 for killing that pimp—her release today on parole in Orange County after serving 19 years in prison is a big step.

Dick Price: As a result of the Federal budget sequestration, the local Federal Public Defender’s Office serving Los Angeles and surrounding counties faces furloughs this fall similar to ones already affecting other offices around the country

Dick Price: Thursday, a hundred or so veteran agitators gathered in Will Rogers Park on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills to protest the conjectured sale of the Los Angeles Times to Charles and David Koch, plutocrat owners of the $115-billion-annual-revenue Koch Industries, who have expressed interest in using the paper to spread their drown-government-in-the-bathtub invective.

Dick Price: In their fondest hopes, the activists behind Prop C and measures like it see these messages prompting members of Congress to support a constitutional amendment overturning the Citizen United ruling.

Dick Price: With jails straining to absorb thousands of prison inmates, jailhouse guard-on-inmate beatings grabbing headlines, and public concern rising about possible spikes in crime rates, public safety issues have Angelenos of all stripes scrambling for answers.

Dick Price: As California grapples with a prison system so broken that the U.S. Supreme Court has mandated reductions in the number of prisoners it holds, the three-part “Smart Justice: Rethinking Public Safety in California” discussion begun this past week is examining both consequences and possible solutions to the state’s mass incarceration mess.

Wellness

Carole Bartolotto: The problem with concluding that GMOs are safe is that the argument for their safety rests solely on animal studies. These studies are offered as evidence that the debate over GMOs is over. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Environmentalism

Walker Foley: Elected officials seem to think there’s only one side of this property rights argument. The people who live in these communities have rights too, but the oil companies seem to have the jump on [the politicians’] side of the fence.